CHICO — The Pleasant Valley boys golf team is strong one-through-five, but it is led by its captain Landon Williams.
Williams, a senior, puts in work practicing six-to-seven days each week and the results on his scorecard are paying off. In his most recent match at Wilcox Oaks Golf Club in Redding, Williams shot his lowest score of his high school career, a 2-under par 70.
Williams needed to shoot a 73 in Thursday’s regular season finale at his home course of Butte Creek Country Club to have a league average score of par, which PV coach David Crawford was confident in.
Due to Williams’ recent success, he has been named this week’s Chico Enterprise-Record Prep Athlete of the Week.
For Williams, the chase of perfection and a positive mindset is what keeps him motivated day in and day out. Whether he makes a putt for birdie or double bogies a hole, observers can hear him talking to himself throughout each round and he said that is something he has learned and helps his mental games immensely.
When Williams gets in trouble, he tells himself sayings like, “It’s OK, let’s make a good recovery,” “Let’s make a par or birdie and get out of here,” or “Hey lets go, that’s a bad hole. Forget about, let’s move on and kick some butt next hole.”
Pumping himself up is something he learned from former Chico State golfer Art Golden, a friend of Williams’ father who has helped him with his mindset.
“It looks crazy when you’re doing it, but I’m one that talks my way through it,” Williams said. “(Golden) worked with me a lot on my mindset and just not be so hard on myself. I used to be really hard on myself and expect a lot and when I would do that I would be worse. Obviously I have high expectations, but its just keeping it to a minimum, being yourself and trusting your game and giving yourself a little pep talk every once in a while. I do get hyped in matches. If I’m doing well and I make a run, I do get hyped.”
Williams has learned to talk to himself whether he shoots a bogie or a birdie and keep the same mindset. After a recent match at Canyon Oaks Country Club in Chico in which Williams shot one of his worst scores of the season, Williams entered his next match at Wilcox Oaks Golf Club with one of his most positive mindsets.
“I think I wanted redemption from my last round. I felt like I let my team down a little bit with that score and the fact that we didn’t break 400 and that upset me because I knew that as a team leader and the No. 1 at PV I shouldn’t have shot that score that I did,” Williams said. “I just wanted a little redemption match and it felt good. I was mentally focused that whole round, I was making putts, I was hitting the ball real well, the driver was solid all day, I was taking aggressive lines, picking targets and executing.”
Williams wasn’t always as competitive with golf as he is today. He grew up as a basketball player, playing golf as a hobby and occasionally practicing at what was formerly the The Practice Tee at Sunset Hills in Chico in Williams’ middle school years. In Williams’ eight grade year he decided to stop playing basketball and pursue golf heavily. He had in his mind at that time he wanted to play golf at the collegiate level and wanted to devote all necessary time to it.
Williams’ sophomore year of high school he started working with Tom Fegley, the Pleasant Valley girls’ golf coach and golf professional at Butte Creek Country Club. Fegley helped him with swing mechanics, gaining yardage and keeping the ball in the fairway, but most importantly Williams’ short game began to improve.
“When I started working on my short game with (Fegley) that’s when everything else fell into place and my scores began to drop really low,” Williams said. “Realizing like man, I could be really good at this and that’s when I started seeing that confidence built up and it really excelled after that.”
Pleasant Valley, who has won all of its Eastern Athletic League matches, will take place in the Division I championship at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Corning on Monday. The Vikings will then take place in the Masters tournament May 17th at Bailey Creek Golf Course in Lake Almanor, before hoping to play at the NorCal Championship on May 23rd at Berkeley Country Club.
As for Williams’ golf career after PV, he will be walking on to the Chico State men’s golf team under head coach Nick Green. Crawford has confidence that Williams will have no problem adjusting to the collegiate level.
“He hits the ball considerably longer than most high school players. This is one reason why his golf game will transition well to the collegiate level,” Crawford said. “They play courses at longer yardage than we play in high school. Landon will have no trouble adjusting to college yardage.”
